ATLANTA — As the Georgia legislature prepares to gavel out one week from today on April 4, 2025, anti-equality majorities in the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia Senate have begun moving forward four dangerous bills that threaten LGBTQ+ Georgians. Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, is calling attention to this “Slate of Hate” - a bundle of draconian anti-LGBTQ+ bills that threaten transgender and non-binary people’s access to best-practice health care & could give a “license to discriminate” against LGBTQ+ people to employers, health care providers, and many more individuals across Georgia.

Georgia’s “Slate of Hate” consists of four bills:

• SB 1 - Anti-Transgender Bathroom & Sports Ban
  • If enacted as amended, SB 1 would effectively ban trans and non-binary youth of all ages from playing school sports and ban trans & non-binary students from safely using bathrooms & locker rooms at school. Not only is this bill discriminatory and unconstitutional, but it also deprives transgender youth of their right to access education because when you can’t use the school restroom safely, you can’t learn. 
  • Political attacks on transgender youth generally, and trans student athletes specifically, are fueled by discrimination, not facts.
  • Blanket bans on transgender youth participation make life harder for all kids,  emboldening people to question the gender of kids who don’t fit a narrow view of how they’re supposed to dress or look. They can even expose children to invasive, inappropriate questions and examinations.
• SB 30 - Anti-Trans Health Care Ban for Minors
  • Despite overwhelming evidence and the support of the nation’s largest health organizations, SB 30 would make it much more difficult - if not impossible in practice - for transgender youth to access the health care that their doctors and their parents agree they need.
  • No parent should ever be put in the position where they and their doctor agree on one course of action, supported by the overwhelming majority of medical experts, but the government forbids it.
• SB 36 - “License to Discriminate” Bill
  • Under the guise of religious freedom, this bill could lead to LGBTQ+ Georgians being turned away from businesses, denied housing, or refused service by government officials
  • SB 36 is extremely broad and would extend far beyond allowing discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. Similar laws have been used to stop an investigation into child labor law abuse,limit access to birth control, and justify the kidnapping of a child.
  • The Georgia and Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce recently announced strong opposition to SB 36, saying it “would undermine the state’s strong reputation we have built together” and harm businesses.
• SB 39 - Anti-Trans Health Care Ban for State Health Plans
  • SB 39 bans best-practice medical care for trans & non-binary people of any age who rely on the state for health insurance - including state employees as well as members of their family.
  • Health care for transgender people is just that – health care. In many cases, the care transgender people receive is the same as people who are not transgender - just for a different reason. Therefore, forbidding this kind of health care from someone for no reason other than that they are transgender is discrimination. Period.